Groundhog's Day COMPLETE
by the7joker7
Summary: TK's life is spinning out of control from every aspect, failing in school, losing his friends and family, and he doesn't seem to care...but when he mysteriously begins reliving the same day over and over, can he get his life back on track?
1. Chapter 1

TK's life is spinning out of control from every aspect, failing in school, losing his friends and family, and he doesn't seem to care...but when he mysteriously begins reliving the same day over and over, can he get his life back on track?

Chapter 1: A day in the life

More parodies from me! This time a more family-friendly one, taking a break from the action/fantasy land. This is a parody of the Bill Murray movie "Groundhog's Day", so credit to that movie and all involved. I don't own it, or Digimon, so let it be known.

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The alarm. That damn alarm again. Every morning, that brash blaring. He hated it. Hated it's abrasive blast of sound, hated the inadjustable volume, hated the red bright text on the clock itself...but this was nothing new. What didn't he hate these days? He reached over and pounded on the clock until he found the alarm off button.

Maybe he'd just lie here for awhile, wait for somebody to make him get up. Maybe he wouldn't even get up then. What were they gonna do about it? He didn't care enough about anything anymore, nobody could threaten him. That was the nice thing about apathy. It made you impervious to authority.

It was 7:15. School started at 8:35. He lived very close to the school, only took about five minutes to get there, so he was typically given some leeway in getting up in the mornings. But mom would probably wonder where he was in the next fifteen minutes. Then things might get interesting. Maybe he'd get up, maybe he wouldn't. Maybe he'd put up a fight about it, maybe he wouldn't. In any case, a argument with his mother where he completely controlled the outcome was certainly more interesting than school.

So trival things like school were these days. School, family, socializing, it all seemed so insignificant and beneath TK's attention. He was a digidestined. He had saved this world and the digital world more than once. He should be treated as a celebrity, or as a god. But here he was, just another 15 year old kid. Years had passed and he still received no due respect. He still lived in this blasted apartment, still went to a public school, and didn't gain nearly enough respect among his peers. Over the years, he was sick of it.

Oh, how apathy settled in on him like a dark cloud. This life had been okay once, but now, it was just depressing that he had to put up with this crap. Why should he even try? He may as well amuse himself by being an asshole.

The door swinging open interrupted his mental justification of his actions. Couldn't be anyone else but mom. Slightly early today.

"Come on, it's friday." She said casually, trying to act as if there was a honest mistake. Maybe he thought it was the weekend, or didn't set the alarm, and would willingly jump up to begin the day. Not that she wasn't fully aware of TK descending into a mentality somewhere between emo and elitism, but you can't blame her for trying.

"Yes, then I can learn about the ling dynasty and geometry. That's obviously much more appealing than just lying here." He said sarcastically.

"TK-"

"What do you intend to do? We both know you're far too spineless to stop feeding me, or kick me out, and you've already tried the uninspired banning of TV and video games. So where do you intend to take this?"

No response. He hadn't even opened his eyes or rolled over to face her, so he could only imagine her look of frustration, confusion and anger fighting to take over her facial expression. He preferred to keep it that way.

A light pushing on his back. It wasn't mom...the touch and feel wasn't quite right...Patamon. He wasn't a particular fan of TK's descent into depression, and was constantly trying to break him out of it. For all the good it did.

"You could really go places if you used that vocabulary on things other than sarcastic taunts, you know." His mother stated finally.

"Go places? You're kidding yourself if you think a good usage of words will get me anywhere in life. Or you're kidding me, which I take offense to. We all know that very few people can go anywhere in life. Why should I try with the odds so bad?"

"TK, we've had this conversation before, and we really don't have time to have it now. Get up." She was trying to keep calm.

"Have we already forgotten the fact that you don't have any power in this situation? Don't worry, with that body of yours I'm sure you can find some wealthy guy to marry so I won't have to support you in your old age. Just get looking soon and you'll be just fine no matter what I do."

He could almost hear the silence that his mom had been plunged into by his brash comment. Beautiful thing.

"This is the part where you get dad to make me get up by force, since you're took weak, but-oh wait, you pushed him away with your neediness. Or you might get Matt, but...that's right, you managed to send him away as well. Funny how these things bite you later on, isn't it?"

She didn't have any words for this tirade either. You could have cut the tension with a knife as his mom debating with herself about what to do now. She settled for storming out the room, slamming the door hard on her way out. She didn't have time for this right now. All she could hope was that this was nothing more than a phase.

But if she let him win, that would just encourage him...there was only one option she could see, and she didn't care for it much.

Almost right after the door slammed shut, TK slid out of bed and began undressing. Patamon looked up at him with a expression of suprise and suspicion.

"Well, that was fun." He said casually. "But this is the part where she calls dad, I'd rather not have to deal with that." He explained. After undressing and putting his robe on, he walked out the room, shocking his mom who was halfway through dialing her once lover, and in this instance, enforcer of authority.

"Mother, are you really desperate enough to try and call up the man who stole years off your life just to get me out of bed so I can arrive to one of 180 school days in the year? Honestly, by the time he got here, if he got me up immediately, I'd be lucky to make 3rd period. And that's assuming he actually succeeds." He walked into the bathroom, as if he had just made some comment on the weather.

"There he goes..." she muttered, slamming the phone down on the receiver. But in her fury, she missed it slightly and ended up crashing down on an origami swan right by it. Slamming the phone home in the receiver, she turned back to the screen. "Playing his mind games...if he gets his head screwed on straight, he could make a great psychologist." She began typing again at the computer, working more on the article about dropout rates in local high schools. How ironic. She told herself to ignore TK until he got back home from school. She couldn't bother with his calculated torture right now. Maybe if she didn't care, he'd stop.

Keeping her eyes on the computer screen as she typed away, she heard TK finish his shower, then get something to eat. She couldn't help glancing at the time. He'd be on time after all. She couldn't even begin to comprehend what he was doing. If he was just refusing to go to school, or always wanting to sleep, or something, it would be one thing...but he followed an inexplicable pattern. Some days, he'd act completely normal. Other days, he'd sleep until noon, shrugging off every punishment she could muster. He was like a switch. He could turn it on and off. Very strange.

TK threw a glance at his mother as he poured some cereal out of a box into a bowl. He couldn't help but smiling. Seeing her internal battle to try and understand what he was doing was indeed amusing. He began to eat, still watching his mother try to keep her eyes glued to the screen. She could never understand him. She spent hours trying to figure him out, but it was simple. This was his game. She may have banned him from video games for a very, very long time, but was powerless to stop him from playing his mind games. It was fun to him. If he wasn't going to get the respect he deserved, he may as well entertain himself. And this was indeed fun.

Some time later, he finished eating, and grabbed his school bag as if the morning had been completely normal. It was cold, so he threw on a coat before heading out. "Bye mom!" He yelled, for a second the innocent child he was years ago. He almost got her to spin around in shock, but by the time she did, he had shut the door.

Patamon fluttered out his bedroom, looking quite sad himself. It saddened him, seeing his master like this. Both of them spent some mornings and afternoons talking amongst themselves about what was wrong with TK, but never got anywhere. But it did make them feel better. Slightly.

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TK slowly strolled down the sidewalk, heading for the school 3 blocks away. Today, he felt like doing that. He had already cut school one this week, and felt like staying unpredictable. Maybe next week he'd do it three times. Or not at all. As long as he had a weak-kneed mother, he could do what he wished. As long as some juvenile detention center didn't come into the picture, which was a large part of him actually bothering to do the decent thing sometimes.

But being so unpredictable was half the fun.

As he turned the corner around the clock, he heard running footsteps behind him. He could guess who it was. Kari, that blasted girl. He had been semi-interested in her once...but now she was just another toy in his universe who he liked confusing. Sometimes he'd act interested in her, sometimes he humilate her...and she was stupid and hopeful enough to keep coming back for more. Probably clinging to many months ago when they were close and showed promise.

"TK! Wait up!" She yelled as she ran up next to him, falling into step. "Hey, Groundhog's day!"

Ah yes. So it was. Hardly a holiday worthy of any attention, though now that he did look he saw a few decorations to commemorate the day. He kept walking, turning his attention to a very small child on the back porch of a house they were walking by, who was assembling a set of blocks to spell out 'smrt'.

"You going to the unveiling?"

"Yes, I'm too stupid to look at my own shadow to see what the end result will be. We're all too stupid! All hail the mighty groundhog, for he is the only one with the brain capacity to look at a shadow!" He threw his arms out to the side dramatically.

"Oh...well, it's a novelty thing..." she managed lamely.

"Well now I _really_ want to go see it." He retorted, dripping with sarcasm.

"You know, you can just say no, you don't have to be a jerk about it-"

"Ooh! Big words! I see we're finally growing a spine." He gave her a mock pat on the back. "Good for you!"

He walked on ahead, leaving Kari very confused and hurt. He walked into the crowd of people beginning the walk to the school, leaving Kari to think what she would. He'd probably see her again before the day was over, he'd cross that bridge when he came to it. The beauty of not caring.

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1st period. English. Today, he'd be sardonically perfect. He walked into the classroom with several others as the bell rang. They formed a rather crude line passing by the teacher's desk, stacking assignments in front of her. TK pulled out his own sheet, which he had completed three nights ago. He was quite sure it was going to manage a very high grade, which would make it all the more confusing why he didn't even try half the time. As he past the desk, the teacher looked up at him, suprised that he had anything at all.

"Terribly sorry about last week, here." He said in a low tone. "I hope we can put that past us. However, you did mispell 'corrective' in the 3rd paragraph of the assignment sheet. That's hardly up to the standard I expected when I began this course. Be more careful next time." He gave a mock dramatic bow before turning towards his desk, taking the few steps needed to get to it and sitting down. The teacher was just looking at him, unsure of what to do. She settled for letting her eyes go back to the desk, as if it didn't happen.

Class began as normal, TK switching out between watching the teacher's chin, counting holes in the ceiling of the styrofoam ceiling, and actually paying attention. He did what he could to walk the line between being a minor annoyance and being sent to the principle's office, a line he often crossed. But what was an hour of detention? It was worth it to take the risk, this was all that made him feel alive. Saving the world could do that to you.

Class went on uneventfully. The bell rang, and the trek to the next class began for everyone. Like mules, they were herded in various rooms at the sound of alarms. TK found it funny. He only participated in it anymore because it proved a gateway for more amusement.

Another one of his peers that he had grown bored with and now merely humored ran up beside him. Davis, bumbling idiot. Head over heels in love with Kari. Hopeless, sometimes he pretended to flirt with Kari just because he knew Davis wouldn't sleep for days. He can't believe he was almost a rival to this imbecile once.

"Hey man, Kari told me what you did, and-"

"What, Motomiya? You a hired thug now? Are your services for hire to anyone with money?" They kept walking, Davis thrown off balance by TK's well chosen words. "Or did she offer you something else, because I'll tell you right now, she's a terrible kisser-"

"Shut up!" He pulled back his arm, squeezing his hand into a fist. How pleasantly predictable. As was the presence of a authorative figure right in front of them. A hall monitor, who grabbed Davis midpunch and began scolding him. TK didn't even turn to regard the situation. He just smiled smugly to himself. How easily this world became his plaything.

Suddenly, some kid he vaguely knew walked right in front of him, visibly thrilled over...something. "Off to see the groundhog after school?" He asked cheerfully. It may as well have been christmas to this moron, with how happy he was.

"Hardly. I'm sure this pitiful town will have such a boring day that the findings of the groundhog will be the major headline of the 6:00 news." He pushed past him.

School past rather uneventfully. TK was so content that he had gotten Davis in such trouble without trying that the poor teachers who usually had to tolerate his mindgames were spared.

Lunch hour, Kari took a seat next to him, apperantly forgetting the events of earlier today. And she brought a more aggressive attitude with her.

"You're coming to the festival, buddy." She was smiling arrogantly, as if she had some trump card. "If you'll check your syllabus in English, you have to write a reporter-style paper on it. And you need to be there if you have any hope of passing."

"Lightning wit strikes again! Only took you four hours. And what makes you think I care about one insignificant paper enough to go to that godforsaken festival?"

"Because you're afraid. Afraid that you're about to cross some imaginary line between depressed and elitist. Which I know you have anyway. Afraid that you're about to cross the line that gets you kicked out of school, out of your house, and leaves you abandoned by everyone. Then who will you manipulate? Who will you toy with?"

TK paused, still looking down on his food tray. A large crash cut the moment short, as every pair of eyes in the room turned towards the sound. A student had accidentally dumped a tray of food on the floor, creating quite the mess. But it happened reasonably often, so the conversation picked up again. "My my. Intuitive today. I give you credit, I never thought anyone could really figure me out." He turned towards her slowly. "Very well. I will go, and I admit you're right, but it would be good of you to not speak of this to anyone."

"Yay!" She gave him a pat on the back. "I'll help you, it'll be fun."

TK snorted. Now that was a funny sentiment.

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Sure enough, the park was full of people, holding some overpriced novelty groundhog related toy, holding up some sign involving a groundhog and idiotic pun, or something that made them look utterly ridiculous to TK. He was standing behind the crowd of people surrounding the raised platform on which a fake tree stump stood. Kari stood next to him, holding a handheld tape recorder.

"Come on, it starts any minute! You're good with words, say whatever comes to mind!" She was insisting, waving the player in his face. TK was still partially shell shocked from losing control of the situation and being forced into something. She had seen right through him and carved him up, attacking the only place he had which could be attacked anymore. He thought he didn't care about anything...except, apperantly, not caring.

"Fine." He grabbed it distractedly and clicked the 'record' button down. "This is Takeru Takaishi, coming to you from Odiaba park, where a group of groundhog bearing humans seem to be preparing to worship a small furry creature set to emerge from a cheap imitation log. Riveting stuff, people. People will do anything to flow along with the crowd. And now, the furry little seer is to be revealed, and our very fates presented to us by it's mere stature."

Sure enough, a pair of people walked up onto the stage, standing on either side of the trunk. The slightly taller and heavier man on the left began addressing the crowd. "Ladies, Gentlemen, we are here to look into our future and see what the weather holds for us! In mere moments, Timothy will come on out, and show us all what the next six weeks holds for us!" He turned to the log expectantly, as did everyone else.

Except for TK, who continued his speech into the recorder. "Should the groundhog appear, and clouds restrict his ability to see his shadow cast by the sunlight, winter will make way for spring. But if he does, in fact, see his shadow, he will become scared and duck back down, which triggers six more weeks of winter. Funny how the universe works in such a nonsensical way. And yet, I can look down at the ground right now, at my own shadow, and deduce that-"

Kari hit him in the back, half playfully, but part generated from frustration at his attitude. It had been four months since his apathy had become evident, so the whole 'it's a phase' hope was slowly fluttering out the window.

The Groundhog appeared, and looked around at the audience. In turn, the audience looked at the ground around it as it crawled out of the now open trap door at the top of the trunk. Though it was hard to make out from a distance, it had a shadow. Mostly groans escaped the captivated crowd, but some liked the idea of six more weeks of winter.

"Oh my, a mere tape recorder can't do justice to the excitement of a overgrown squirrel predicting the weather. How I wish you could be here. So we're starring six more weeks of winter down the barrel. Nevermind millions of dollars worth of weather predicting technology, you've got a rodent. That's what I say! This is Takeru, signing off." He released the record button, turning around to face Kari.

She snatched the recorder out of his hand, an expression that bore frustration trying to be contained by humor. "Again, without the sarcasm."

"Whatever are you talking about?" He grabbed it back. "Is there something wrong with my point of view? I'm merely being honest, an art lost on everyone else."

She grabbed him and turned him around to face the audience. "Are you really the only one right, and all these people wrong? Can you honestly say that?"

"These people are hicks, Kari. All of them. Why else would they have nothing better to do than come out to watch a groundhog come out of a plastic mock trunk? I don't know what happened to this town, but it's populace has really gone to hell." He began walking away. He had everything he needed, including a pithy leaving comment.

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Halfway home, he decided to pay a visit to his brother at the studio. For more than one reason. Like every other musican in the world, Matt had gotten his hands on some...not quite legal substances. TK found them liberating, and since he no longer cared about much of anything, it wasn't beyond him to sneak a bit whenever he could.

He took a shortcut through a couple of alleys, scattering a group of cats on his way in all directions. The studio was a converted garage. The lack of reverbs coming from the building told him the group was on momentary break, so he banged on the back door. A moment passed before it swung open. Matt stood there.

"Oh, hey man. Taking a break. Come on in." He turned on his heel and walked back into the garage. The rest of the band stood and lay among the equipment that came with being a musical group. Ordinary day in this place.

"I can't believe this town." TK began. "Hundreds turn out to watch some mutated mouse look for it's shadow. What has become of Odaiba?"

"Hey, don't hate. It's a tradition, nobody actually cares what the Groundhog sees."

"Sometimes, I wonder." He stepped over a guitar. "You got any-"

"Damn right. One sec." He ran off into the control room.

"Hey man." One of the members called. TK couldn't remember his name...started with a R...Ryan maybe. "I remember meeting you years ago...man you've changed."

"You might say that." TK said simply. "I saw the bigger picture."

"Yes!" One of the others pumped his first. He was holding a Nintendo DS, apperantly playing a game. "Been working on that for months. But it's all worth it for this moment."

Matt hurried back in, a rolled blunt ready to be smoked. He was no angel, he couldn't resist the cheap pleasure these things could bring him. Especially in his line of work. And if his brother wanted to take a hit every now and then, he wouldn't get in his way. It was really ridiculous it was even illegal to begin with, as far as he was concerned, really, no worse than Cigarettes.

TK grabbed it and took a seat in the closest empty chair. "Rough day. On top of this ridiculous holiday, Kari's proven relentless. No idea how I'll get rid of her." He lit it and began puffing away.

"Here's an idea. Don't." Matt suggested. "You're heading down a path in life that doesn't end happily. Kari's clinging onto you now, but it won't last. Reel her in before she gives up, because once you're further down your road, no woman will have you. You'll have to chose between your hand and a banana peel."

The entire band cracked up at that.

"It's much more fun this way."

Matt blinked slowly. "You're an interesting person, you know. Could write a book on your psyche. Egocentric, controlling, apathetic, and very intelligent. Who knows what else?"

"I'll be what I want, if that's what you mean."

"Oh, I'd never tell you to be someone else. I am suggesting, however, that if you push everyone away you'll really realize where this mentality has gotten you, and it'll be too late by then."

TK smirked through the blunt. "When did mom get to you?"

"Dunno what you're talking about, I'm just saying-"

"Exactly what mom tries to say." TK finished. He got up. "I don't need to take this. See you." He briskly walked out of the studio, leaving a slightly disappointed Matt sitting there. He didn't care enough to pursue it...but he was his brother.

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He decided to have a slightly early dinner at Denny's. As he sat awaiting his order to go through, his mind flew over what had been a rather bad day. The Davis thing was somewhat amusing, but otherwise, he hadn't managed to have much fun. He had even been forced into going to that damned festival. Not what he was accustomed to. Not at all.

A massive crash right next to him. A waiter had spilled a tray of water glasses, causing quite a stir. Second time that had happened today. Curious. Waiters converged on the spot, trying to clean the mess up before it disrupting things too much.

TK didn't even notice Ken taking a seat across from him at the table. He swiveled his head to meet this new apperance, one he hardly welcomed.

"I know what you're doing, and stop." Ken said firmly. "If you continue to think like this, I promise it won't end well. I used to do it, and-"

"You were actually doing quite well until you suddenly had a crisis of conscience. What I'm doing has no such setbacks, it's quite harmless. I don't care about anything, so I can't be hurt. That's my business."

"I'm just trying to help you, nobody likes to see you like this-"

"Please leave, I don't recall giving you permission to sit here. And you'll be advised to keep your nose out of my business."

Ken groaned, slammed his palms onto the table, then pushed away, got up, and walked away.

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TK arrived home around 6:00, running out of things to do elsewhere, and figuring the day could only get more annoying outside. He didn't even acknowledge mom when he walked through the living room and into the bedroom, he was so frustrated. He wondered if his mom would notice it.

Patamon certainly did.

"What's wrong?" He asked as TK collapsed into his bed. No need to worry about work, it was friday.

"Everything. Morons. I'm surrounded by morons." He mumbled into his pillow.

"You really could use a cheerier outlook on life, ya know." Patamon suggested.

"What is it with you people? Why do you care about my life?" He paused for a moment, gripping the sheets of his bed. "It's just been a rough day, alright?" He climbed up onto the actual bed.

"It's only six."

"Do you want a cookie for being able to tell time? I realize that, but I'm tired and have nothing to do." And it was true. He was thinking too hard about the events of today to be able to concentrate on something like a mind game with mom. And he was banned from just about everything else because of his poor behavior.

So, slowly, he drifted off to sleep to the faint sound of Grey's Anatomy from the living room.

Oh, if only he knew...


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Deja Vu

The alarm again...odd, he never set his alarm on a weekend. He cracked open an eyelid, and saw the red digits of the clock on 7:15. Fantastic.

And strangely enough, though he had gone to bed around six the night before, he felt just as tired as he always did, as if he had gone to bed particularly late the night before. Curious.

Well, whatever, he had no intention of getting up. Sleep was one the last few things he enjoyed, and he was going to enjoy it. Yesterday had been such a bad day, he almost felt bad for anyone he'd run into today.

A few minutes passed, his mind forming what he might do today, before the door cracked open.

"Come on, it's friday." His mom's voice assualted his ears with this unfriendly information.

"What?" He forgot to be mean or have some pithy comeback, he was so suprised. She wasn't one to forget the date or day of the week. She might have been messing with him. "That's not funny, mother, I deserve the weekend after my terrible day yesterday. Don't take that away from me."

She sighed. "Yesterday you went to a rave after school and seemed to enjoy yourself quite a bit. Now get up."

What the hell? He did that thursday.

The door slid shut before TK could come with anything to say. Maybe he just wasn't completely awake. A nice shower would put this to rest. He pushed himself up and quickly undressed.

As he walked through the living room towards the bathroom, he couldn't help but take a glance at his mom, who seemed pleasantly suprised he was being so willing today, if a bit lost. But his eye caught something much more important. That origami swan...sitting there next to the phone...innocently in perfect condition. He could recall his mom slamming it with the phone, crushing it into a flat assortment of colored paper. And yet, there it was, looking just as it had for the weeks before.

He tried to remember as he walked into the bathroom...what was it doing there in the first place? Some old lady had given it to her...he didn't even know why...some gift...Nancy was no Origami artist, and she wouldn't exactly have a fit over losing it. Replacing it would certainly take much longer than...24 hours.

He took a deep breath. A fluke. Nothing more. Maybe somebody had come by yesterday with exactly the same thing. A long shot...but there was no other explanation. Either that or...right, he still needed that shower.

He turned the water on and stepped into the blast, hoping that when he stepped out of the bathroom, everything would be back to normal. The swan would either be in the garbage, or lying there flat, it would be saturday, and he would get to chose between going out or going back to sleep.

He continued thinking about this as he finished up and got out, but the sight that greeted his eyes was not the one he had hoped for. The swan was still there, in all it's 3 dimensional glory. He stood there, frozen to the spot, breaking out in a cold sweat.

"Get moving, you've got school!" His mother broke him out of his trance. It was friday...again. Perhaps yesterday was a dream...or hallucination...or maybe this was the dream. A quick pinch to the forearm dispelled this possibility. That had to be it. Last night, he had a dream. Made sense, really, the day had been so terrible...but it felt so real...oh well.

This really sucked. He had to basically play out the same day twice. But it had to be done. Maybe this time he could learn from his previous mistakes and turn this day into a good one. That'd be nice.

The morning routine went by as normal, TK slowly coming back to earth. This was all explanable. People must go through this all the time.

In fact, by the time he was ready to leave, he was already beginning to settle back down into his usual persona.

"Goodbye, mother, I mustn't be late for learning about the ling dynasty. I'm sure that will come in handy one day!" He shut the door before she could give any response to his return to normal.

The trek to school was strangely familiar...a big coincidence, everything seemed to flow along just as it had the day before. He hadn't been paying alot of attention, but he was sure that the child from that house had to sprint back into the house to get her backpack after making it to the sidewalk, and that the house across from it was just settling up a 5 foot plastic groundhog, yesterday as he passed. And they were doing it just the same today. Curious.

"TK! Wait up!" Kari ran up beside him. Odd... "Hey, groundhog's day!"

Okay, this was getting really creepy. His dream of last night was no dream...it was a vision. A vision of the future that was proving to be quite accurate.

Then, his eye caught it. The straw that broke the camel's back. The small child, on the porch with blocks. They spelled out 'smrt'. He had no idea why, but he recalled that from his vision. And he suddenly felt very sick.

"You going to the unveiling?"

He took several calming, controlling breaths. "Yes, apperantly." He said through gritted teeth. After all, the day was copying the vision perfectly so far, and in the vision, he had certainly been there. "I must! I have a report to do on it!" His voice was high and fake, trying to sound calm and failing terribly.

"Well, that's nice, so I'll see you there!" She ran off.

So, his vision had been a flawless forseeing of the future...minus his own actions. His own actions were the only variables in a day that would otherwise be exactly the same. He had not lashed out at Kari, so there would be no Davis trying to take a swing at him later. Who knew what else might happen later? In any case, he was definitely freaked out by this turn of events.

He walked all the way to class and sat down at his desk before he began to take control of himself again. This could have it's advantages. It could be a one time thing. A massive fluke. Just get through this accursed day, and it would all be over.

Things started out well, him drifting in and out of attention in classes and just telling himself to get through the day. He grimaced when he ran into the grinning buffoon in the hallway, asking if he was going to see the groundhog, and at lunch hour, the kid dropping his tray made him shivver. How could a vision be so accurate? No matter how expected it was, it was creepy.

Or perhaps...this was the vision? Perhaps yesterday had really happened, and this was just a dream, reliving the day before perfectly, and a simple pinch wasn't enough to get him out of it. He tried stabbing himself with a fork, closing his eyes and counting to ten, forcing himself to get up, or going into a lucid dream and creating something so unrealistic his brain wouldn't accept it. Nothing.

Perhaps he could get a job as some sort of a psychic if these visions continued. Who wouldn't pay millions to know exactly how the next day would progress?

School finished, the world proceeded just as he knew it would, minus his own actions. His shock over all of this had toned him down considerably. He wasn't being sarcastic or cynical at all, actually. Too astonished by all of this.

But his arrival at the park, accompanied by the morons crowding around an oversized rat and Kari waving a tape recorder in his face, couldn't help but bring back some of the old charm. He was himself again, only here because he had to do a report to keep him out of the red zone. Not because he wanted to, thought it was funny, or even because a vision last night told him he should.

"Come on, it starts any minute! You're good with words, say whatever comes to mind!" She insisted. TK was positive it was the exact same line from the previous day. He wasn't suprised by it per se, but every occurance of Deja Vu was still...something.

He grabbed the recorder. May as well. "Here we are, folks, for what will certainly be a riveting performance by Timothy the Rotund Rodent! Today, he will crawl out of a plastic hollowed out tube...and look for his shadow. And get this, if he sees it, he'll get scared, and jump back in! But if he doesn't, all is well with little Timothy. Oh, and this set of events will also somehow give us a weather report for the next six weeks! My, mother nature has really been forced to distribute her duties to some underqualified people lately!" He waved his arms about dramatically and made sure that his voice was dripping with sarcasm.

He'd be damned if he was gonna give the same speech again. May as well have some fun.

The groundhog came out, to the exact same result and reaction.

"And there you have it, folks! And the groundhog said, let there be snow. And there was snow!" He hit stop. Kari grabbed the recorder out of his hand, about to open her mouth to say something.

TK spun around and put his finger to her lips, shocking her into silence. "Again, without the sarcasm?" He trotted away from the girl, who was clearly shocked stiff by TK's ability to predict exactly what she intended to say.

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On the way home, once again, TK thought he might pay a visit to Matt. Why not stick true to the vision, and some weed might be good for him right now. He was still trying to sort his thoughts out.

He headed down some allies, scattering a familiar group of cats, before coming to the garage. He knocked and was let in by Matt. Everything oh so very similar.

Same mudane conversation, same statements and suggestions about his life, same kid beating the same really tough level on some game...didn't even faze him anymore. He was calm, in control, knew what was going on, and was slightly stoned. Good mix. He was even nice enough to let Matt down easier this time.

"All good and well, Matt, but I can't be someone I'm not. Perhaps I'll grow out of this, perhaps I won't, but I'm leaving it up to my mind." He said simply. Non-offensive, not rude, just...a statement. Something Matt could accept without provoking him.

"Alright. I can respect that. You alright? You're a little different today...actually, you're different in the way that you're the same as you used to be...a little."

"Hey, we can write a song about that!" One of the bandmembers shouted.

"It's been done." Another droned in a slightly tired tone.

"Oh, maybe it's the smoke talking." He held up the blunt. "And you might say I've leveled out after a bumpy ride." He skipped out of the garage, now suddenly seeing advantages to knowing what was about to happen.

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He made yet another stop at Denny's, awaiting Ken's arrival, as well as his order. He knew which would come first, and was ready.

Ken was about to take his seat.

"You're about to tell me that you know what I'm doing, and I should stop, using yourself as an example to why, which I will shoot back at you by saying you were doing fine until you screwed it up. Then you'll insist nobody likes me like this, and then I'll request you leave, so let's just cut right to the end. Leave." He smiled innocently up at Ken, who stood frozen, one leg already under the table, rear halfway to the chair. He walked away, holding his head in both hands, mumbling something about manipulations.

This was actually pretty fun. If it happened more often, he'd have no objection.

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He came home around 6:00, again, and decided to cut right to bed, once again. He had no idea what would happen beyond the scope of what he had seen, and cared not to find out. He was ready to wake up on a saturday, everything back to normal, friday behind him forever.

He had a similar conversation with Patamon, though he wasn't quite so fierce. The shock had made him lose his fire today, he'd have to make up for it later.

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Okay, now he was really getting-his alarm blared away at 7:15 again. He was 100 sure he had turned it off last night. 100 sure. And yet, it was demanding he answer the wakeup call that usually only came with school.

He laid there for a moment, forcing himself to believe he had made an honest mistake. Set the alarm, could happen to anyone.

But after five minutes had past, his mother opened the door. He braced himself for it, praying that it might not come.

"Come on, it's friday."

She could have thrown a iron onto TK's head and it would have hurt less. He grabbed his head, fighting the urge to scream, before kicking himself out of bed and quickly undressing right in front of his mom. She quickly shut the door, confused but happy he was showing some sense of urgency for once.

He marched out of the bedroom. He saw the swan. His brain was working on possible solutions as he turned on the shower. Was yesterday a vision as well? Could he have had two consectutive identical visions, and this was the real one? Visions that he couldn't force himself out of? What if this was a vision too...but no...if it was a vision, would he really be able to control himself? He could easily change the 'future' of the vision by doing whatever he wished...so was he in control of the future? But the future refused to come, it kept repeating on this day. Did he have to do something to make time continue as normal?

Then he realized how insane he sounded. And as insane as his next thought might have been as well, it was the only thing that really made sense. He was reliving the same day...over and over and over. It was the only thing that made sense. And it made no sense anyway.

He burst out the shower, changed as fast as he could, shoveled some food into his mouth, trying to formulate some sort of plan or explanation. He didn't have anything to say to his mother as he burst out of the apartment and took the elevator down to the ground.

At the bottom, he calmed himself. Alright, the universe had gone nuts. And somehow...he was the only one who noticed. Everyone else seemed unaware, but he alone still had memories from the previous day. What could this mean?

He ran down the sidewalk, running through crowds of people bearing groundhog attire until he found Kari. He ran up to her and grabbed her arms.

"Kari, I think I'm losing it!"

"TK, what do you mean?"

"Kari...I want you to slap me!" He settled on. Not the best line in the world.

"Wha-no!"

"Just...do it! Please! I'm going crazy, I need to-"

"No! You're right, you are going crazy, might wanna see someone about that." She looked him over.

"Please, just-"

She rolled her eyes. "Fine." She slapped him hard across the cheek.

TK slowly opened his eyes, having shut them on impact. He hoped he might be waking up in his bed, on saturday...but no. He was looking up at the sky.

"Kari, have you ever had Deja Vu?" He asked slowly.

She laughed. "All the time. Is that all this is about? Get a grip." She walked past.

"No! No, you don't understand, this is-" But she was already gone.

His knees felt weak, but he managed to stay upright. Just...stay calm. Maybe it was all just a big, big fluke. He'd give it one more shot, one more go. And if tomorrow didn't come...well he'd think about that when he came to it. He straightened up, and began trekking to school, forcing himself to think about how great it would be, waking up on a saturday.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Trapped

In later years, he'd never fully grasp how he got through the day. School, lunch, the festival...he sort of walked through all of it in a trance, hoping that this was all just a terrible terrible mistake by whoever was in control of the universe. Tomorrow, surely it would be fixed. It was this hope, and this hope alone, that kept him from hiding in the bathroom. If tomorrow was to be saturday, he'd want to have gone through friday like a normal person.

He had no sarcasm today. He had no time to be rude or controlling today. He just went through the process, as stiff as possible, doing only what was absolutely needed. Listening to the teachers just enough to hopefully get through the class, giving a very stiff and flat report into the tape recorder, which was still much better than what he had mustered the two times before.

He went to the garage where Matt and his band practiced, largely because some weed would do him good right about now. Every occurance of Deja Vu, the kid beating the level on the game, the same comments, made him nearly lose it. But he held on, all the way through dinner, on the way home, and then just collapsed in bed.

The day a blur, the thought of getting to sleep and waking up on saturday, the world sane once again, was all he could think about. As a quick test, he grabbed a pencil on the table next to his bed and snapped it in two before falling to sleep.

------------------------------------------------------

But no luck. The moment his alarm blared at 7:15, he got up to check the pencil. It was in one piece. He knew that it was friday, again. He didn't need to hear his mom's confirmation, or see the swan, or the child's blocks...he knew all he needed.

He jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom, the realization that he was probably stuck for all eternity in one of the worst days of his life and had not the slightest idea how to get out. He bent down over the toilet and threw up his dinner from the previous night. He heard his mom knock on the door and say something to the tune of 'are you alright' but he had no answer.

He had not the slightest idea what to do. He stumbled out of the bathroom, muttering some confirmation to his mom. He couldn't try and explain this to her, she'd just believe he was on drugs and then he might get into some real trouble. So he slowly got ready for school. Maybe somebody there would believe him. His mom kept pestering him about checking his temperature or something, but he ignored it until she believed he was fine.

On the way there, Kari ran up to him. TK didn't even let her say anything. He swiveled around to her. "Kari, I'm having a very, very bad case of Deja Vu. I've been living this day," he pointed at the ground, "this very day, for the fourth time. It happens exactly the same everytime, minus my actions. I don't know, but...I'm losing it. Kari, I-" He ran out of words.

Kari sort of laughed. TK really hated the sound of it. "You might wanna see the school psychiatrist." She kept on walking past him, as if this was nothing important at all.

TK sighed, obviously she didn't believe him...but it was a good idea.

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"I'm telling you, Doc, I've been reliving this day for the fourth time now!" He cried from the couch to the elderly bald man in glasses. "I know exactly what's going to happen today of things that were along my path over the last three days, as long as I don't interfere, and-"

"I see." The doctor nodded, writing something on a pad of paper. "This is indeed a very interesting...case."

"Look, I can prove it." He looked up at the clock. "At around 12:16 today, a red haired kid will drop a lunch tray in the middle of the lunchroom. As long as we don't interfere, I promise-"

"Look, TK, I don't need proof. You're obviously just having a very upsetting set of dreams. Now, sometimes, we can't remember our dreams too well, and filling in the blanks with anything that makes sense. That must be what's happening. Now, I'd like you to come back tomorrow, if at all possible, or at least on monday."

"Doc, you don't understand! There won't be a tomorrow! There's only today, you've gotta...I dunno, inject me with something or give me some meds that'll snap me out of this! At the very least, I wanna become unaware. If I'm gonna relive the same day over and over, I may as well not know!" As bad as the day was, he'd rather be blissfully unaware it was repeating.

"I'm sorry, but you'll have to trust me. This is some sort of dream, hallucination or other such vision. And you'll have to trust me, this is quite real. So tomorrow, it will be saturday, and I hope you can visit me then. You're an interesting case...but this isn't unheard of. I can help you through this. Now, if you're still not feeling good, feel free to go lie down on the bench right outside."

He stared at the doc for a moment before pushing up and stumbling outside. Lying down couldn't hurt...he hardly cared about school right now. The day was going to repeat anyway. So he stretched out on the bench, closed his eyes, and tried to form some sort of an idea.

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He had nothing. Every hour, students would walk past in hordes, sometimes somebody would try to talk to him but he pretended to be asleep, and at the end of the day Kari tried to get him up. But he was stuck inside a thought that wasn't forming, caught up in trying to get out of this nightmare.

When Kari went up to him, trying to pull him up and insist he had to go to the festival, he decided it was time to get up. But he had no intention of living through that festival again, so he walked right past Kari, through the hallways, and out the school.

He wandered around for some time. When he finally thought he might check where he was, he was standing in front of a bowling alley. He shrugged and walked in. He was too tired and troubled to try and come up with anything else to do anyway.

He checked in at the front and dumped the contents of his wallet on the counter, asking for as many games as he could buy. The lady behind the counter pursed her lips, but gladly took the money and told him to check in at alley 16.

And so he did, and he bowled for hours. It felt good, using a round 9 pound ball to crush a set of ten alley pins. He imagined the pins were the cruel lords of fate that were forcing him to relive this day over and over.

At around 5:00, Davis came up behind him. Upon the tap on his shoulder, he turned around in a panic. He could have been sent into cardiac arrest by his own shadow right about now. But it was just the bumbling moron Davis. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Hey man! Bowling? Can I join?"

"Sure." He said nonchalantly. What did he care? Nothing mattered at all anymore. Nothing.

Over the course of the game, TK explained his plight. Davis thought it was funny, and that he should write a book about it, clearly not believing he was serious. TK didn't care, even if he did believe him, all would reset by tomorrow. Or rather, tomorrow's version of today.

"I remember...two years ago, Ashley invited me over to her house. She was teasing me in this midriff tanktop and really short shorts...and get this, she was a nerd. Had a ton of video games and stuff. We played for hours...she took a real liking to me. I played my cards perfectly. And then, before I left, we actually kissed. I kissed that drop dead gorgeous babe on the first date after playing video games for hours upon hours...why couldn't I get _that_ day, over and over and over and over..." he hung his head.

"You've got quite the imagination man, but I think you've gone off the deep end."

TK nodded. It didn't matter. "Davis, put yourself in my situation...or the situation I've been explaining, if you insist on not believing me. What would you do?"

"Me? I'd do whatever I wanted! I'd skip school, get drunk, make out with some girl, play games, get my sister mad, eat anything I wanted, rob a bank...anything! There would be no comeuppance! No consequences to my actions!"

Normally, he be amazed that Davis's vocabulary contained such big words...but the infidel had a point. This _was_ one of the worst days of his life...but he could make it not so. He could do anything...and never get in trouble. He was supposed to be the smart one, not Davis, how had this not occured to him sooner. Must be distress.

"Hey Davis, I'm leaving now, you can...bowl more with my games if you want."

"Nah, I'll go with you. You can tell me more about your story."

So they left, walking out of the complex. But as soon as they stepped into the parking lot, TK walked up to the closest car. "You know Davis, there's always been something I want to do."

"Ermmm...buddy?"

He pulled a paper clip out from his pocket and stretched it out, sticking an end in the keyhole. "They say you shouldn't be able to drive until you're 16. I say to hell with that. I know I'm responsible enough to drive, that should be enough for anyone." The lock was quite simple, it was an older car without the fancy security of these days. He popped the door open and got in the driver seat. "I gotta tell you, man, my brother's a pretty cool guy. He taught me this stuff." He reached under the steering wheel and began hotwiring it. "Well, you getting in?"

"Ummm...well, I really don't think...are you drunk?"

"Nonsense! I've never been so clear headed. I'm going joyriding, you coming?"

Davis backed away slowly, shaking his hands, palms out, at TK. "You know, I just remembered, I need to be home by six. See ya!" He sprinted off.

"Coward!" He yelled off at him as the car's ignition revved to life.

Suddenly, a familiar face came into his range of view. A slightly off kilter Izzy.

"Izzy! Just the guy I was looking for!" Well, not really, but this could be amusing. "I'm going joyriding, wanna come!"

"Absolutely!" He jumped into the back seat in a single fluid motion. "I'm all for giving youngsters tips in manuvering roads. Let's get going!"

TK nearly smiled. He was drunk. He never, ever, in all his years, could imagine Izzy getting drunk. This wasn't such a bad day to get trapped in...maybe this would be fun.

He took off, having a rough idea how to drive, but it was clear to anyone watching an inexperienced driver was at the helm. He swerved about on the road, knocking over signs and fire hydrants, just avoiding other drivers, drawing the ire of those on the sidewalk, and soon causing the sirens of the police to fire up in their wake.

"I'm sick of all the rules...don't do this...don't do that..." he mowed down a couple of benches as he talked on. "No more rules, Izzy! No more rules." He sped up to 90 miles an hour, attracting even more attention.

Izzy sobered up very quickly, shouting some demands and suggestions about stopping the car before things compounded into something truly bad, but TK was intent on testing a theory. He rode the car onto a set of railroad tracks on the side of the road and began driving down there, tearing up the tires as if they were paper as he did so.

Izzy was trying to reach over the seat and get him to stop, but was frozen solid by the apperance of a train coming the oppisite direction on the tracks. Closer it came, and TK didn't budge.

"I'm betting he'll swerve first!" TK yelled as he rode the car closer and closer. And then, at the last moment, just as Izzy had resigned himself to an early death, he turned off the tracks violently, skidding into a collection of wooden crates filled with fruit. The contents of the boxes spilled everywhere as cop cars surrounded the scene.

One went up to the driver seat window and rapped on the glass. TK opened the window and stuck his head out.

"I'll take a number 4 with a large pepsi, and a chocolate sundae." He said in a monotone voice. "Izzy, you want anything?"

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He was dragged off to the police station. His mother was called, and a conversation between him, her and the head of police ensued. TK just sat there stupidly, a dumb smile on his face, starring at a picture of a cat on a calendar behind the desk of the police head. Eventually, he frustrated the two so much they decided to have him held in a cell until he loosened up. Even Nancy agreed with the decision, though she could have taken responsibility for him and taken him home.

So he was put into a cell, where he quickly fell to sleep. May as well end this day and get to the...well, next version of today. Nothing to do here but count the bricks in the wall.

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The alarm triggered, demanding he get up. He sprung up, looking around. His bedroom. It was friday, and his actions of yesterday...or rather, the previous version of today, had been forgotten. Things were looking up. He leapt out of bed and skipped out of the bedroom.

"Hello, mother!" He sang in a voice that nearly caused her to drop the morning paper. "Wonderful day, wouldn't you say?" He was too thrilled about opening up this can of worms to be himself. He'd be back to normal soon, but right now, he was just thrilled about this development.

"Yes, TK...yes it is." She said slowly.

There was no hand of fate pushing him along his path...he was a master of his own fate now. Nothing he did would have any repercussions, for tomorrow he would wake up, friday morning, the day begun anew. He changed, showered and ate as if it was his birthday. He grabbed his school stuff, bid a happy farewell to his mother, then ran out. He dumped his things next to a tree as soon as he got outside, and began thinking.

Time to get to know this town a little better.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Invincible

He began walking about town, letting his gut lead him wherever it felt like taking him. Where to start...no hurry, he had all the time in the world.

He started off at the arcade. Basic, but entertaining nevertheless. He got dirty looks all around from people assuming that he should be in school, but it was all white noise to him. He spent a very long time there. He may have pretended to not care when his mother tried to ban him from such things, and he really didn't care that much, but he still had fun with it.

After several hours, he became bored and left. On jaunt down the sidewalk, he saw the festival coming together in the distance. He checked his watch. Almost 2:00, school was about to get out and the festival would then start. His eyes fell on a bakery, and his stomach growled in anticipation. Not to ignore it, he ran inside and bought everything that looked appeasing.

He sat at one of the tables by the large window, a massive mound of bakery sweets in front of him, and began eating away. Slowly, taking his time, visibly enjoying himself. This was heaven. Not that he was ever some anal dieter, fixated on his weight, but the knowledge that nothing he did had any repercussions was liberating indeed.

He watched students walk by the window, a few peering in with confused expressions on their faces, some of them looked angry and jealous. A moment later, he was joined at the table by Kari.

"What do we have here?" She asked, looking down disapprovingly at the plate. "Don't you worry about...your body or anything?"

He continued to shovel down cakes, pies, eclairs and buns inbetween sentences. "I don't worry about anything anymore."

"So you're special now? Look, everybody worries about something."

TK bit into an eclair before looking up at her. "That's what makes me so special." Kari shook her head and glowered at him. "What?"

She cleared her throat. "The wretch, concentered all in self, living, shall forfeit fair renown, and doubly dying, shall go down to the vile dust from whence he sprung, unwept, unhonored and unsung."

TK took another bite out of a strawberry shortcake, all the while starring right at Kari's chin, before saying anything, which took around 20 seconds. "There was once a young man from Nantucket-"

"Oh, that's real charming, TK." She pushed up from the table.

"Oh, come on, calm down. I'm just...living a little." He pulled a small box of cigarettes out of his pocket. "Here, take one, helps you mellow out."

Kari winced and pulled back. "Wha-no! What do you take me for?!"

TK shrugged, pulling one out. Kari was about to say something about underage smoking, but it got stuck in her throat. She knew it wouldn't matter to him. "You...you can't smoke inside buildings!" She settled on.

"That's true for those who worry about things." He looked at the staff member behind the counter, winking, and he winked back. TK lit up a cigarette, which raised no objection from the worker. "I suppose it's true, what they say, money is the root of all evil."

Kari tried to say something, but it died in her mouth, and she settled for storming out of the bakery, slamming the door behind her. TK continued smoking and eating like a glutton, planning his next move.

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He stepped outside to find a rather attractive girl standing outside, against a lamppost. Attractive, and if TK's sense of woman was correct, floozy. Perhaps he could set something up for the next repeat of today.

"Excuse me." He walked up to her. She turned to face him. He could pull this off, it'd be easy. Hot, dumb, easy...he could read her like a book. "What's your name?"

"Sarah." She said, nonplussed.

"What's your favorite musical band?"

"What? Why do you care?"

"Come on..."

She shrugged. "Err...Coldplay I guess?"

"Favorite movie?"

"Look, kid..."

Kid? She hardly looked a year older than him. Normally he would have had some smart comeback, but he was on a mission. "I'm running a survey, okay?"

"Oh...well...Pirates of the Caribbean, I think."

"Who was your English teacher in 7th grade?"

"...okay, kid, get out of here."

"I'm not leaving you alone until you tell me, so you might as well just-"

"Okay, fine, Mr. Thompson. Now get out of here!" She pointed off into the distance, at the festival. TK walked off, his goal accomplished.

He walked past the festival, going around town, familiarizing himself with the events of the day in various points of the town. He was sure to spend hours doing such for the rest of his life, as he had nothing else to do. He wondered if he was even aging...probably not. An eternal life, reliving this day...not half bad. It wasn't as if he was terribly enjoying life as it was, anyway.

He loitered around for a few hours, taking mental note of various things that happened around town at certain times. It wouldn't be easy to remember all of this, but it would be well worth it...eventually.

Late at night, he decided to head back home, ready to reset the day. The next morning, he woke up, already some idea of how he would spend today. After several hours, which he spent at a local comedy club heckling the comedians, he began heading towards the bakery. Not to pig out again, though obviously his gluttony in yesterday's version of today no longer existed, but he wasn't much in the mood anyway.

There was that girl, again, standing just as she had the day before.

"Sarah!" He shouted as he walked up to her cheerfully, arms outstretched to the side. She stared at him, clearly confused.

"Sorry, what?"

"Sarah, isn't it?"

"Yes, but I don't know you...I don't think."

"Oh come on Sarah, I sat right next to you in 7th grade English class. Mr. Thompson was our teacher. Don't tell me you don't remember! I'm TK!"

"Ermm...well...TK...yeah, TK!" She was obviously lieing to try and avoid and possibly awkward situation, but TK didn't care. He was in, now he just had to be cautious.

"Yeah, I thought you might! Oh man, time has gone by, hasn't it. Sorry I never really got in touch with you, life got kind of hard...but anyway, how are you?"

"Oh...well, good, I suppose."

"Oh man, you won't believe this...my friend just hooked me up with-wait for it-coldplay tickets next month!"

She gave a gasp. TK was afraid that her 'i guess' and unsure nature indicated that she wasn't actually a major fan of Coldplay or PotC. But the gasp shattered any illusions of this possibility. "Really? You're kidding! That's...that's fantastic! You're a fan, then?"

"Oh, absolutely! Love em to death!" He exaggerated. He could care less about Coldplay.

"Well, me too." She giggled. Who cares if she had no idea who this boy was? They seemed off to a good start in any case.

"That's real nice. You know, is that Pirates 2 movie still showing at the cinema...I was gonna go...AGAIN!" He said animatedly.

"I...I think so! Ya know, I didn't like it as much as the first, but then again I loved the first so much-"

"Oh you're kidding! I loved it so much too! You know, I never knew we had so much in common!"

"Neither...neither did I." She smiled. "You wanna have a bun?" She motioned towards the bakery.

"Don't mind if I do." And he followed her into the shop.

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It only took about half an hour. She was a dumb one. All he had to do was pretend to like the same things she did after he was in the door, and within 45 minutes, they were in the back alley behind the bakery, their tongues in each others' mouths.

It was a fantastic moment, even if TK knew it was superficial and would cease to exist at te end of the day. But he didn't care, he would have the mental knowledge he had french kissed a girl two years older than him, who was attractive, on the first date. If you could even call it a date.

This went on for some time, until his lust was sated. Upon which he suddenly remembered an important appointment and ran off. That was rewarding. And he had barely gotten started.

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For months worth of Febuary 2nds, he examined the town and various events that occured at certain times, finding more ways to enjoy himself. Eventually, he found the best way to start the day, and almost always made sure to be in front of the bank by 7:59.

"Sudden burst of wind." He said to himself, just as a burst of wind slammed into his face, blowing his hair back. "Dog bark in the distance." There was the dog, right on time. "V formation of crows." There they went. He turned his attention to a armored car parked in front of the bank. Two guards stood in front of the rear, opening it and grabbing large bags of money. "Transfer time."

A elderly lady walked up to the guard on the right. "Hello Felix, can I exchange a 20 dollar bill for a roll of quarters?" TK muttered to himself as he began slowly walking across the street towards the scene. "Surely, ma'am." The other guard looked down at his belt, confused. "I think I left the keys in the front seat, Felix. Be right back." The guard walked up to the front of the truck, fumbling around in the driver seat. Felix spilled the roll of quarters on the ground. "So sorry, ma'am, let me get those for you." Felix and the woman bent down over the ground, picking up quarters off the concrete. "And...showtime." He casually walked up right behind Felix, grabbed a bag, and casually walked off. The 2nd guard would take about two minutes to find the keys, and Felix and the old lady would have a hell of a time getting all the quarters. He knew, he had seen it so many times. This plan never failed. Not the brightest group of people, those three. But he appriciated it.

Today, he'd buy a fake driver's license, a nice camaro, and joyride. Yesterday, he had gotten drunk off his ass at a bar, bribing the bartender with hundreds of dollars to keep the whole thing under wraps. The day before, he paid the entire cheerleading squad to follow him around like an entourage. It was great to see the bemused expression on most of the kids faces, but there was nothing quite like see Davis actually break out about two dozen new pimples on the spot. Tomorrow, perhaps he'd clean the shelves of the porno shop and pleasure himself.

After what he estimated to be about 500 days, he had kissed every female student within 2 years of himself except Kari, had joyrided around in 57 different luxury cars, had seen every porno movie in all the town, drunk enough to sink the titanic, explored all forms of drugs, eaten more than the average elephant...and every morning, he would wake up, and only his blissful memory remained.

He was truly invincible.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: The peak, and the road down

He lost count of the days eventually. And he could care less. This was heaven. An eternity of doing whatever he wished. Today, he had decided to pig himself out once again at the bakery. But that wasn't enough. He went around from resturant to resturant, ordering extravagant foods of all kinds, until he was satisfied. Breakfast meats, dinner courses, desserts, everything you could imagine. And it all sat invitingly in front of him.

After some time, just as she had on his first bakery jaunt, Kari found him. A disapproving glance at the plate of food was followed by a familiar sentiment. "What do we have here? Don't you worry about your...body or anything?"

"Baby, I don't have to worry about anything. Yesterday, I held up 3 convienence stores. Before that, I threw bricks at police cars. The day before, I got so wasted I had to go to the hospital. Nothing anyone does today will have any negative conotations later on...and I'm the only one who knows. Baby, I am a god."

She bit her lip. "Oookay. You know what? You need to cut down on the drugs."

"You don't believe me, do you?"

"Of course not."

He put down his fork. "And why would that be?"

She leaned in. "Because a god wouldn't be pigging out at a bakery. A god wouldn't be interested in such trivial things as the pleasures of overeating. A god would be doing something much more important than satisfying some boyish fantasy. And from the sound of things, that's all you've been doing."

"Why Kari, if I didn't know any better, I'd think you actually believe me."

"It's called humoring someone. And my point still stands." She walked out of the bakery, much more calm this time around. As TK ate, however, he realized she had a point. If he was a god, such trivial things should be beneath him. Especially after all this time.

"Very well then, Kari. My hand of influence will stretch even further."

Over the course of several days, which he spent hiding in the back alley behind the sporting goods store, he discovered that at 8:51 in the morning, a delivery of weapons was made. As the transfer was being made from the delivery man to the store, a bum ran by the crates, apperantly trying to hijack a weapon. While the few people in the vicinity chased him off, if TK timed things perfectly, he was able to quickly leap in, pull a sniper rifle and a box of ammo from an open crate, and run away before anyone noticed.

The first few times, he kept getting caught, if not immediately, in a few hours. He had to take about a month to read up on the internet about hacking, then put the CCTV cameras outside on a 10 second loop before going in. This time, he was successful. He made off with a sniper rifle and a box of ammo before the bum had been apprehended.

He stashed the items near the exit to the alleyway, under a tarp marked 'do not disturb'. Generally, people did whatever a sign told them to do, so he figured he'd be alright.

But suffice to say, a policeman spotted the tarp, and had no qualms with pulling it back to reveal the cache. It took about 10 tries before TK finally put it down in the sewage tunnels. Nobody disturbed it there for the rest of the day. Then, he memorized the pattern of people who walked around the clock tower from 6:14 in the morning to 7:15, when the day would reset.

Around 6:14 in the morning, just an hour and one minute before the day reset, he got up and snuck out, back to his hidden weapon. The streets were largely deserted, so it wasn't hard to transport it to the top of the clock tower just two streets down. He had memorized patterns of people anyway, so he knew when to duck away when the rare passerby came into the area.

He got up to the top of the tower, which was 16 stories high, and readied the gun. He had read up on such things, and even though he had never actually shot one, knew enough about the theory to manage.

And then, the waiting came. He sat on the top of the tower, hidden from view to any casual eye, waiting. He had never actually...died while trapped in this day, and he'd rather not find out. Six minutes. 7:09, he'd fire off the first shot. Surely 6 minutes was enough to sate his lust for death and destruction, while not giving time for a retalitory strike from anyone else.

It half-scared TK that he was actually doing this. Of all the things he could do, knowing that nothing he did really meant anything to anyone but him, he had been compelled to mindlessly slaughter people. Well, not as first, but the fact that it simply came up was disturbing. But...he was here, and his disdain for everyone who lived in this town was about to be expressed very violently.

And then, the clock struck 6:09. He had memorized patterns of people who were up and about at this time, so he knew what to do first. He set his crosshairs on a elderly man emerging from his apartment building, on his small porch, stretching. He didn't even think about it, he just fired.

Pandemonium was immediate. Screams, lights going out, the sound of bodies hitting the floor in a panic as soon as the sound of gunfire died. TK swiveled around to place his sight on a college student, having just finished working his night shift at a local fast food joint, who had just broken out into a run at the sound of gunfire. But you can't run from a bullet. And he learned this lesson the hard way.

A car sped by, TK expertly took out the driver, sending it careening into a building. It was just like playing a video game. Huh, diminished sense of reality. Interesting. All those years of blasting germans in world war two games was making this easier on his soul. Oh well, he'd take it.

A dozen more fatalities came, mostly people accidentally running right into his crosshairs while running for cover, when the sirens began to sound. The cops were here. He checked his watch, which he had made sure was perfectly timed to the second. 7:14:23. Could he survive for another 36 seconds? Damn right.

He kept his head down and popped oncoming police cars in the tires, forcing them to skid and flip. 20 seconds...a car stopped and two cops burst out, megaphone and pistols at the ready. Child's play, TK had them on the ground, blood spurting from fresh wounds in the forehead in two seconds.

Just 10 seconds. Oh crap, a helicopter. It was slowly, almost lazily floating up towards him. He could see the turret on it's base spinning, putting the child in it's sights. There would be no attempt to 'take him in', he figured. Too dangerous. Kill on contact.

He threw the rifle at the helicopter and dived back into the actual tower. He began sliding down staircases, even as the bullets from the gatling run ripped through the concrete walls of the tower, just missing him.

Then, he was hit, not fatal, but it hurt. He looked down at his forearm, and saw blood seeping from it. He was about to scream in pain, felt like it had cracked the bone-

And then, he was in his bed, as if nothing had happened. 7:15, the alarm demanding he start moving to get ready for school. He grabbed his forearm instinctively. Nothing. No blood, no wound...all was back to normal.

Now, he wasn't gonna lie, that felt damn good. Too good, but he could really care less. In fact, he wanted more...more. Who cares if it only lasted a few minutes, it was all worth it, just to feel alive.

He began to experiment in explosives, setting off bombs in various locations just before the reset of the day. He got cockier and cockier, but always just smart enough to not get caught in a situation where he might get killed. After months of perfectly his process through the day, by the time the day reset at 7:14:59, the entire town was up in flames, a victim of explosives.

And then, one day, he decided to take it to the next level. But he'd need help. So he rolled out of bed one morning, and poked Patamon awake.

"Patamon, do you trust me?" He asked, trying to sound urgent and dramatic.

"Ermm...yeah. Why?"

"Buddy, I need you to do something for me. It's not gonna be easy, and it's not gonna make sense, but you have to do it. It's a matter of life and death. You got me?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure! What is it?!"

"I...need you...to go outside...go to mega form...and start blowing shit up."

Patamon looked as if a brick had just been shoved up his rear. "What?"

"You have to! We don't have much time! Get out there, turn into Seraphimon, and destroy everything in sight! Don't stop until I tell you to, just destroy everything. Anyone tries to stop you, destroy them!"

"Err..." he glanced down at the floor, getting a sick feeling in his stomach.

"Just go!" He pointed at the window frankly. "Go! Go! If you don't we're all gonna die! Go!"

"Ummm, TK...if I do this, we'll all die anyway..." He glanced around, trying to find some excuse to not do this.

"No, no! You don't understand! We're trapped...trapped in a virtual world! The only way to get out is to destroy everything! You have to trust me!"

"Errrmmmm...okay." He finished weakly. It was tough to ignore TK, he was being so serious. Or rather, acting so serious.

"And the oscar goes to..." TK laughed to himself as Patamon flung himself out the window and began the digivolving process.

Seraphimon was a god of his own world, the digital world. You'd be hardpressed to find anything stronger, in either world. You had to feel bad for earth.

Destruction was hardly his forte. He was an angel of light, who generally protected someone or fought the forces evil. To simply lay waste to everything that moved (or didn't move) wasn't something he ever thought he'd do. But if what TK was saying was true, it had to be done.

It was easier then he ever imagined. A quick blast, and down came the Luxury Hotel. A swift blow took out the strip mall on the corner. He pivoted about, causing havoc and mayhem, leaving carnage and bodies in his wake.

TK casually took the elevator down to the first floor, from which he could hear the screams of those thundering down the steps, trying to escape the structure before this villian destroyed it. Of course, he wouldn't destroy it until TK was safely away from it...but they had no idea.

TK trotted out into the street, where people were running like mad from the origin point of the destruction. Seraphimon was doing quite well, mindlessly blowing away anything that it saw. TK gave an evil 'villian' laugh that hardly suited him, making sure Seraphimon wasn't looking or listening. This was just too fun. Even if he wasn't causing it, it was very enjoyable to just watch. He felt like some criminal mastermind, watching some henchman carry out his evil deeds.

It didn't take long for the entire town to be laid to waste, a smoking ruin. TK gained great pleasure from the sight. But it was far from over. Tai had escaped from the wrath of Seraphimon, and had gotten Agumon up to his own mega level, Wargreymon.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Tai yelled as he approached the pair, which was preparing to move onto neighboring towns. "Just what the the HELL do you think you're doing?"

TK looked around casually. "Why, nothing at all." He said casually, before ordering Seraphimon to strike.

It was quite the fight. Two megas, plenty of room to do as they pleased, and the fate of the world in the balance. Shame it was decided before it began. Wargreymon was good and well, but Seraphimon was...another level. Within 5 minutes, Wargreymon was resting in a crater in the concrete ground, while Seraphimon and TK sped off to further their destruction.

Eventually, armies arrived. Tanks, planes, massive weapons of destruction...none of them stood a chance. Seraphimon blew them all away, ever faithful to TK. After several maddening hours, where Seraphimon laid waste to the entire island of japan, they even tried to launch nuclear weapons at it.

This failed, as you might suspect, Seraphimon instantly melted the projectiles into nothing. Soon, the entire coastline of Asia was one massive wreck. TK watched in pure joy as the boyhood fantasy of seeing mass destruction at his fingertips was lived out.

Hours past, with Seraphimon tirelessly laying destruction to everything. Around 6:00 in the morning, he finally stopped, exhausted and starting to have second thoughts. "TK, are you entirely sure that-"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" He screamed, suddenly becoming serious again. "DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I MEAN WHEN I SAY IT'S A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH?!"

Seraphimon shrugged before turning back around to continue his mindless destruction. TK took it all in, knowing it wouldn't last long.

The great wall of china had just fallen when TK heard that alarm order him up. He jumped up, feeling absolutely fantastic, as if he now truly was a god. Just like a god would, he had slaughtered millions, only for them to wake up alive, in their beds, unaware that anything had happened. Magical indeed. Now, he was a god. If only Kari could see him now.

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Now, there was one final mountain to climb. Kiss Kari. He had been saving this one for a very, very long time. And for good reason. Kari was...well, a good girl, no sum of money could buy her into a kiss. And no cheap, underhanded tactics could fool her into doing it either. He'd actually have to work for this, if he wanted the kiss to be mutual.

The day 'started' at 7:15, and it was unrealistic to expect her to miss school, even for a particularly charming TK who suddenly was very, very interested in her. But surely, if he played his cards right, he could distract her from the confounded festival. School got out at 2:30, festival started at 3:00, so he had half an hour to be all he could be. And he thought he could.

Then, he'd have until around 10:00 to get the kiss. She wouldn't stay up_ too_ late for him...unless he was really good. If he was, he'd have the entire night. Solid foundation of a plan.

As for execution, that would take months of trial and error. As soon as school got out and Kari trotted out the front doors of the building, TK's initial attempt involved daisies, white chocolate, and a very sincere sounding apology.

But the daisies and white chocolates didn't seem to quite take. All the years they knew each other, and she didn't even know that much about her...not that he cared, but it was odd. Finally, the combination of caramel chocolates and lillies sent her wild. Score.

Then phase two. He did this project in parts, as soon as something didn't work as he planned, he aborted for a new attempt. No sense in wasting effort. A place to take her...the movies, the arcade, a local romantic resturant, even the bowling alley...nothing seemed to quite hit her with force he wanted. Then...he found it, to his eternal horror. Dancing.

He had never actually danced, so he couldn't say he hated it...but the idea certainly inserting much dislike into his mind. He had taken her there out of desparation, literally reduced to systematically trying everywhere in town.

Then, he had to learn how to dance. He really didn't like it, should have listened to his gut. But he had a peak to get to, and he'd do whatever it took to do it.

After about 20 cycles, he took Kari to the dance club and...what was the phrase, cut a rug. She loved it, and TK did his best to pretend he did as well.

When he finally got it right, they didn't stop until 6:00. Then, they had an extravagant dinner at the romantic resturant he had tried earlier in the day, this time she was much more delighted about it.

This wasn't easy. Every time the day cycled, he had to go through hours of dancing again. But this was the last challenge, so every bit of strength he had was exercised in this undertaking.

Last challenge? That was a little depressing when he really thought about it. Perhaps not, maybe he'd try to get laid next. A tough challenge for a boy his age, but if anyone could do it, he could.

In any case, after three tries, he managed to order exactly what Kari did, come up with the perfect french quote to compliment their conversation about what she wanted to do with her future, and even came up with a toast that she absolutely fell in love with. Those lips were all his.

And then, they walked around the park until it was dark, looking at animals, petting dogs, and talking amongst themselves. He managed to rig the conversation to his wants down to the very tone of their voices after just about 5 tries.

And then, it was 10:00. Time for her to go home, she said, she had made a promise to Tai. Then, TK would try to go in...and fail. A brutal slap in the face, followed by some rant about men, and how all they cared about was the 'gold at the end of the rainbow'. She followed up with some comment about where TK had gone wrong, which she had ignored before because she was so happy with him but was surfacing now that she was mad.

"I can't believe I actually ate fudge!"

"I actually danced to Madonna for you!"

"To think I'd be seen with someone wearing those shoes!"

He never knew Kari was so particular. But over the process of weeks worth of cycles, he discovered something. Even at the end, when as far as he could tell, he had gotten the day perfect (even Kari had no complaints when he ultimately failed), she still rejected the kiss. She simply wouldn't kiss on the first date, even to somebody he had known for years and rather liked. It didn't help he had been so moody in months before, but there was nothing to be done about that.

So that was that. There was nothing to be done. Kari was a vault that TK could not crack. He tried getting her up at 7:21 and convincing her to skip school, but that went nowhere. He tried tricking her by getting her involved in a rigged game of truth or dare with some other kids, but she refused. And even if she did, it would be a cheap peck he was sure. Hardly worth noting, he wanted a real kiss. Hell, he even tried killing her mother and trying to emotionally appeal to her in the depression that followed so he could get her to make a snap decision. But she couldn't be convinced.

TK gave up. This wasn't worth the effort. In fact, nothing was anymore. He had had enough fun to last many lifetimes, and now what was once a great pleasure felt petty. And worse yet, as well as he now knew the town, he had no idea how to get out. He had no idea where to start looking either.

So one morning, with nothing springing to mind concerning what he could do, he decided to do the one thing that came to mind when it came to getting out.

He sat up in bed, in thought. "That groundhog...Timothy...it sees it's shadow everytime! It extends winter! That's it! By extending winter, it's trapping me in this same day, I mean, today is winter!" It was just ridiculous enough to make sense. He couldn't believe he was buying into the groundhog crap, but he was desparate.

So, he pulled the sporting good store heist with a pistol, waiting at the park until the groundhog and some state officials arrived after he had his weapon. When they arrived, he was ready.

He unloaded his clip at the groundhog's cage. He wasn't a good shot with these short barreled weapons, but he managed to hit it enough times to make sure it wouldn't get back up. Afterwards, he was arrested and thrown into a dingy cell, told to await some sort of trial...or something or other. He didn't care, he fell right to sleep. Either this wouldn't work, and he'd wake up in bed tomorrow, or this would end the nightmare, and he'd serve some time and get back to his life. He'd rather spend awhile in juvy than be trapped here forever.

But no such luck, he awoke in his bed, at 7:15, on a friday. He had one last idea, one he was certain would produce results, either way.

Around 1:58, when the festival was beginning to assemble, he snuck up to the transport car which contained Timothy in the front passenger seat. As important as this tradition was to this town, a groundhog didn't exactly get a personal guard. It was a simple matter to simply sneak into the driver seat and quickly drive off before anyone could stop him.

The chase was on. Police cars trailed him wildly, as TK pushed his foot down hard on the gas pedal, speed limits a distant memory. He looked down at Timothy, curiously peering about. "Don't worry, little buddy. In a minute, this'll all be over."

After a minute of driving, he came to just what he was looking for. A road bridge over a valley of rock on the outskirts of town. He revved the car and sped right off the edge, missing the bridge completely and beginning a plumment down to the bottom of the valley.

It was the only way. Either he would die, and this would be over, or by taking the groundhog with him he would somehow stop this time cycle and send him back to wake up at 7:15 on saturday, finally. In midair, the plan seemed alot lamer. I mean...how would killing them both do anything? Even if it does, how would I get revived? Really makes no sense-

But it didn't matter now. His last thought, for just a nanosecond, was how he wish he could see the look on his mother's face when she saw him in the morgue. The car crashed headon into the ground, crunching the frame up considerably as it flipped and lay upside down. TK and the groundhog already lay, dead, but the car just had to be sure. It exploded in a fireball. Nobody could survive that.

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Except, apperantly, TK, who awoke to the sound of an alarm at 7:15 on a friday. Even death could not stop him, the almighty TK. But he was not to be defeated so easily.

He tried jumping in front of a speeding car (which he saw, for a split second, contained Tai and Kari, before the world went black), electrocuting himself with a toaster in the bathtub, drinking a pint of bleach, jumping from the clock tower, soaking himself in gas and alighting himself on fire, blowing his brains out, slitting his wrist, hanging himself, and even sitting in a subzero freezer at a fish resturant.

And every morning, he woke up, his treatment of the alarm clock getting worse and worse.

How he was beginning to dread his very exsistance.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Coming to an understanding

The day after he concluded that no number of deaths could bring this cycle to an end, he was lost. So, he spent months aimlessly wandering, listening to people. Learning about them, memorizing details of their lives. Sometimes, he'd even strike up conversation with them. Anything to give his life some dull purpose. It was actually interesting...these people had lives worth knowing, worth living. He started to enjoy himself after years of this.

Then, one day, even if for just one day, he wanted Kari to respect him. Perhaps he could even get that kiss. He had one last trick up his sleeve. Could Kari turn down a god?

He had told her, before school, that she really had to meet him at lunch. He waited around until then outside, then snuck into the building and to the lunch hall.

She came up next to him, and they sat down together. "So...what's so important?"

Slowly, TK turned to face her. "I am a god."

She squinted. "Huh?"

"I am a god. I'm not THE god, but I am A god...at least, I think."

"Hoooo boy." She sighed.

"Kari, you don't understand. I have been burned, electrocuted, hung, poisoned, shot, frozen, driven over, and stabbed. And every morning, I wake up at 7:15, on friday morning, and the day restarts again."

"TK, I know you want attention, but this isn't the way to-"

"Kari, I have memorized every single aspect of this day from every angle. Unless I interfere, I know exactly how everything will go." He pointed at the lunch line. "That kid will take tomato soup with a bacon cheese sandwich. The kid to his left will get a salad with a slice of pizza. The next kid is gonna get some of the chicken gumbo." All his predictions played out perfectly.

Kari giggled. "Knowing the taste of a few kids in school doesn't make you a god."

"Okay, fine." He got up, grabbing her forearm. "Watch." He walked up to one of the kids sitting nearby them. "This kid's name is Josh. He's played the saxophone for 4 years, dreams of being an astronaut, hates his grandmother's stew, and is secretly in love with Donna over there." The kid looked up at him in shock. TK moved over to the girl he had pointed to. "Donna here loves ponies, her favorite color is teal, she loves Ron Howard movies, and has a celebrity crush on Johnny Depp." He shuffled onto the next child. "He's Ronald, who's planning to dump a box of cherry bombs in the toilets later today, only to get caught by the plummer, and will get suspended for two weeks. That's Jimmy, who juggles like a madman and has 5 gigs of pictures of Keira Knightly on his laptop."

"TK, it's...great that you know so much about these people...a little creepy maybe, but that doesn't prove anything. Just that you have a great memory and...well I guess you actually care about these people, which is surprising..."

He leaned in close next to her ear. "In about 5 seconds here that kid walking towards that table is going to drop his lunch tray."

Kari glanced over at the kid in question, and sure enough, the tray clattered to the ground after a short wait.

"But...but TK, this can't be possible. I don't know what you're doing, but-"

He put his finger up to her lips, then slowly took out a piece of paper and pen. He scribbled something on it and folded it up, then handed it to her. She took it slowly, unsure of what to do. TK pointed over at a teacher, who had just walked into the lunchroom.

She cleared her throat and began to address the room. "I need Dean Weeks, Cathy Feldmann and Chris Geer to come to room 103 right after lunch to discuss the presentation." She spun on her heel and walked promptly out.

Slowly, Kari unfolded the piece of paper, flattened it out, and read it. She couldn't believe her eyes. On it was the exact transcript of what the teacher had said. "TK...how..."

"Kari...I am a god. Everything that's going to happen in this town, I can predict with 100 accuracy. I know details of everyone who lives in this town, their lives, their hopes, dreams, fears...do you believe me now?"

She looked terrified. She slowly gave a nod. "Yes, TK. I suppose I do." She gasped, looking down at the floor. "But...but how-"

"Come with me, I'll explain everything."

"But, school...I'll miss french-"

"No you won't." He led her away.

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He led her to a hotel, and booked a room for the day. Kari insisted he didn't have to go through the trouble, but he assured her it meant nothing. Once they got up to the room, he poured his heart out. He explained it all. How the day was cycling endlessly, and only he was aware. How he had taken advantage of this and done many sinful things. Everything, he explained. And she ate up every word. It felt good.

"So...TK, what are you going to do now?" She asked playfully, lying on the bed, taking all this information.

"Well, tomorrow...I'm not really sure. I've done everything I could ever want to do, and I've even memorized life stories of everybody in this town."

"Everyone?"

"Yes...it was actually interesting. I was just doing it so I wouldn't go insane, but I think...you know, nevermind."

"Hmm."

"Kari, what would you do in my shoes?"

"Me? Oh, I don't know...I'd better myself."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you've done nothing but sin since you've gotten into this situation. I...I would read books, learn an instrument, learn to paint, become the best person I could. You know, that sort of stuff."

He nodded. "I figured as much."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing." He flopped down on the bed next to her. "Nothing." He smiled.

"So what will you do, you think?"

"Maybe I need to take it up another notch...how's rape sound?"

She chuckled. "Please, TK. Tell me, I really want to know. Come on, without the sarcasm."

Suddenly, TK's eyes clouded over. "What did you just say?"

"Come on, without the sarcasm?"

TK stood there, transfixed, looking at the wall, for at least 30 seconds. Where had he heard that before? Without the sarcasm...Kari had said it, back in the original cycle, after his mocking speech into the tape recorder. Was that the key? Without the sarcasm?

Was he trapped in this day as a punishment for his cynical nature? His sarcasm, his apathy, his rude wit? Was the day repeating a subtle way of asking him to do it 'without the sarcasm?'

He was desparate. He had to try. It made sense, more than anything else had since he got stuck in this situation. He rose up suddenly, surprising Kari. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Kari. Nothing." He bent down and hugged her. "Thank you, but I must be off." He went into the bathroom, turning on the water, and plugging the drain in the bathtub. Kari sat, frozen to the bed, afraid to move. She trusted TK at this point...but this was odd.

After a minute, he realized what he must be doing, and jumped up. She dashed into the bathroom. TK was sitting in the full bathtub, holding a plugged in hairdryer above the water line. She gave a yelp.

"Don't worry, trust me." He said quickly before dunking the dryer in the water. The current flowed through the water, electrocuting TK, killing him almost instantly.

Kari gulpped, but took several deep breaths, telling herself to trust TK. He had proven himself well enough, now she just had to have faith. She stumbled over to the bed and fell onto it, forcing herself to fall to sleep.

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7:15. The alarm commanded he get up. Today, he sprung up, ready to begin his final undertaking. If this failed, though for some reason, he was sure it wouldn't...he had not the slightest idea what he'd do. But this wasn't going to be easy.

Where to start...where to start...the library. He would check into the library as soon as he got up, and begin reading. Anything that caught his eye, anything that looked interesting. And he'd read. He'd go out for food every now and then, but he would read the entire day. When the librarian told him closing time was imminent, he simply acted deaf. Then, he would read by flashlight until 7:14:59. Then, he'd go right back and keep reading.

It took him too many cycles for him to count, easily several years worth, before he had read everything in the entire library. He felt like a new man. In fact, he was certain he could pass the entrance exam for any college in the country now, maybe even pass the bar. But being brilliant wasn't enough.

He began to go around to people at random, talking to them, asking questions about their lives, what they liked and didn't like. He learned all about everyone, learned to respect their lives. In turn, he was able to like them, and have others like him. And then, he was able to like himself.

He went around time many times, again, finding situations in which he could be of use. Any favors, any helping hands he could lend, he was up to the task. He found them. A kid climbing a tree fell from a high branch, and he was there right on time to catch him. A old man was choking on an olive in a resturant, and he was there to perform the hemlich manuever. Flat tires, advice, anything anyone needed, TK was there to deliver.

He decided to take up learning an instrument, from Matt, the guitar. That sounded good. Everyday, early, he went up to Matt and asked for a lesson. He complied, every day acting thrilled his little brother was actually interested in this.

Of course, over the course of several months, when TK started coming in and playing like a veteran, Matt was absolutely confounded.

"TK, are you...sure this is your first lesson?" He would ask every day, as TK started to masterfully move his fingers about the neck to play a rather complex piece.

"Yes, I suppose it just comes...naturally." He smiled innocently before continuing.

After mastering that, which took several months worth of fridays, he began his final project. Ice sculpting. Every day, with a book in hand, he'd locate a large block of ice, and with a icepick he would carve it into anything that came to mind. Animals...Kari...Symbols...Kari...everything came back to Kari.

After he felt comfortable with this artform, he planned out the ultimate day of being a good samaritan. And it started at 7:15.

He sprung out of bed as soon as the alarm went off, giving Patamon a massive huge. "Hey, little buddy, how's it going? Wanna come with me to school today? It'll be fun!"

"Ummm...alright."

He skipped out of his bedroom and went up to a rather taken aback mom. "Hello, mother." He went up to her and kissed her on both cheeks. "Wonderful morning, isn't it. You know, you should really come to that festival later today. Us two and Patamon, be a wonderful time!"

He trotted off into the bathroom, leaving his mother to be very confused and thrilled at the same time.

He showered, ate, and gathered his school stuff. On the way, he gave Kari such a warm greetings she almost ran away, afraid she had gotten the wrong person and had found a pervert by mistake. Everyone TK ran into, he was polite to, to the point where people were wondering if it was really TK.

In school, he handed in all of his assignments and listened closely to everything the teachers had to say, once getting the teacher to lose his train of thought because he was starring so intently. At lunch, he ran outside and donated a sandwich to the beggar behind the school bulletin sign.

After school, he went to the festival, and managed to let himself go. It wasn't...so bad, having fun for the sake of fun. Pretending a groundhog dictated the fate of the weather. Kari, Nancy, and Patamon could not have been more thrilled with TK's change of attitude.

After the festival, he told Kari and his mother to come around the dance club at 5:30. In the meantime, he began his rounds.

At 3:39, the kid fell out of the tree, and he was there to catch him. "Come on, what do you say?" But the kid wrestled himself out of his grip and ran off. "You know, you have NEVER thanked me once! Once!" He yelled after the kid, as he turned around.

4:13, three elderly ladies driving in a car hit a nail and popped a tire. He was right there, carjack in hand, ready to replace it.

"My, what a thoughtful little boy! Always carrying around a carjack, what are the odds?"

"Big, miss. Big." He said as he bid them adeiu.

4:30, the old man in the resturant choking. He casually walked inside the resturant, ignoring the pleas for a confirmation of a reservation, and successfully dislodged the offending olive. "Be careful about those." He said, very seriously, before turning around and leaving.

4:51, he made a quick stop at Matt's garage and grabbed his bag of weed. "Filthy habit, you know, brother. I refuse to have someone so closely related to me associated with such substances." He took it outside and dumped it down the drain before Matt could process this turn of events. "Sorry, brother, but it's for your own good!" He yelled as he ran off.

5:02, a wedding in the park. The groom was planning to make a break for it around this time, but TK was around to prevent. He gave him a encouraging speech, telling him that this girl was for him, and he should be married to her. It worked, and by 5:16, he was ready to walk down the island.

He arrived at the dance club at 5:26, and asked to play in the band on stage. By the time his mom and Kari arrived, he was performing a high powered solo on stage with his guitar. After several minutes, he brought it to a dramatic close, drawing applause from everyone.

He stepped down from the stage and stood in front of Kari and his mom. "Hello, ladies. I have a secret talent that I've decided to reveal. Like it?"

"Oh...TK, it's wonderful." His mom hugged him, almost in tears. "TK...you're back. That was beautiful."

"It's okay mother, all in a day's work." He grabbed Kari's waist. "Now, let us dance." And they began a slow waltz.

"TK...what's happened to you?"

"Oh, nothing at all. I woke up feeling good today, thought I'd give something back."

The old man from the resturant came up behind him. "I never got to thank you for saving me back there, kid. Thanks alot, I thought my time had come up. Can't believe nobody in there knows that manuver anymore."

"No problem, sir." They continued their slow dance. An elderly lady from the car tapped him on the shoulder.

"Look, Betsy, it's that boy again. Thank you very much, once again, for the tire change. You must have the fastest jack in all of town!"

"Don't think a thing of it!" He said as he swung by. How excellently things were falling into place. Was this karma?

"TK...what's that all about?"

"I don't know...those ladies have been hitting on me all night." They shared a laughed.

The bride and groom came up to the pair. "We'd just to say, thank you so much for saving the wedding. I was going to book it before you arrived, I'm not gonna lie!"

"Thank you for convincing him."

"It was nothing." He reached inside his jacket pocket. "Here, wedding gift." He handed them a pair of tickets.

"Wrestlemania!" The bride yelled, hugging the very excited groom.

"How'd you know?" He asked.

TK winked and took the dance up again.

"My...you seem to be the most popular guy in town. And just yesterday-what's going on?"

"Well..." He smiled deviously. "You see-"

"Okay, folks." The music stopped for the announcement. "Time for the bachelor auction. You know the rules! All the elligible bachelors come up front, and the ladies can bid on them. You can do whatever you want with them, and I don't want to hear about it, so long as it's legal! It's all for charity, remember, so get out your pocketbooks!"

TK slyly grinned at Kari before gently pushing away from her, and slowly headed up to the front. "Let's see how much you really want to know." He confronted the man with the microphone at the front.

"Ermmm...kid, when I said bachelor, I sorta meant...adults. Maybe you don't get it, you see, usually the ladies take the men home and-"

"Aw, come on. It won't hurt you."

"Alright. But you're gonna be mighty disappointed I think." He turned to his microphone. "Alright, the bidding opens up on, er-" he leaned in.

"Takeru Takaishi."

"Takeru Takaishi! Ladies, commence your bids!"

He barely had time to finish before the bidding commence. He didn't even want to think about what might happen if the elderly ladies won the bid, and they were trying very hard. Then, there was the granddaughter of the elderly man who he had saved from the Olive, who also really seemed to want to win this. And there were several girls from school who had taken his strange politeness as an invite, who really wanted to win him as well.

The bidding went from 5 dollars to 70, to the auctioneer's great surprise, in about 30 seconds. Kari just stood, watching TK from the ground, slowly nodding and giving a small smile. She raised a single finger in the air, drawing the attention of the auctioneer.

"Two hundred seventy two dollars and thirty eight cents." She said slowly, not taking her eyes off TK. The entire room gasped and fell silent.

"Um...s-sold!" The man finalized, not even going through the 'going once, going twice' procedure, he was so shocked by this massive bid. And he didn't need to bother, nobody was outdoing that.

Slowly, Kari walked up to the man, pulling out her checkbook, and signing away the large sum of money. TK knew she would try hard to win...but he had no idea that she would actually...but this was what he wanted.

"Alright. Congradulations." He said to the two of them as they got up and walked away, very confused. "Next?"

"I'll bet I draw 300 bucks if that buckethead can pull that!" Davis yelled as he struted up to the stage.

"Alright, apperantly we're bending the rules a bit tonight." He mopped sweat from his brow. Was this even...legal? Minors? It was just an innocent thing for fun, but now that he thought about it... "Do I hear a buck and a half?"

Silence. Davis pursed his lips, waiting for something.

"Errr...75 cents?"

"I bid two bits!" One of the old ladies yelled.

"Alright, sold for two bits!" He bent down next to Davis, pushing him in the back. "Now get out of here and stop wasting my time." He said under his breath.

He looked at the senior lady who had bought him. "Aw, crap."

----------------------------------------------------------------

But Davis's misfortunes, while amusing, were overshadowed by the scene outside. Kari and TK were in a field of frosty grass, TK carving a iceblock. He was telling Kari to look away, and she was complying, looking off into the distance.

"You know, I didn't pay all that money just so I could look at the mountains in the distance."

"Hold on, almost done. Trust me, you're getting top quality for your dollar." He looked at her. "Could you turn your head...lemme see your profile?"

She laughed before complying. After a moment, TK pulled his hands back from the sculpture, dropping the pick.

"Can I look now?"

"Go right ahead."

She looked at it. It was a bust in her likeness. But so much more. It was perfect. It glowed with perfection. Every details of her face had been adapted onto the icey sculpture, from the warmth of her eyes to her inviting expression. It was beautiful. Crystal, pure as marble.

"Oh...oh my god..." she said quietly. "TK...no one's ever done this for me, nothing like this...it's amazing..." she hugged TK tightly. "TK, I never knew you could...this has been such an amazing day. You can't plan a day like this."

"Well, you can, it just takes alot of time." He said offhand. "This...this is how I see you. When it all gets too much, I close my eyes...and there you are."

Kari pulled his head down, and TK finally achieved the final goal he had set out so long ago to accomplish. They kissed, a long, beautiful, deep kiss. Maybe after 40 seconds, they softly pulled away. That was worth it.

"You know something. You were a bargain." She grabbed his hand and started pulling him away. TK allowed himself to be pulled, through sidewalks, over streets, past buildings, back to his apartment. She led him up the elevator, down the hall, and down to his apartment room.

As the door opened, Nancy came up to greet them, but Kari moved past her as if she didn't exist. TK simply followed, feeling the gold at the end of the rainbow approaching rapidly.

"Um, TK? Kari? What are you doing-oh shit." It hit her just as the door to TK's room closed. She glanced around frantically before grabbing a pair of headphones on the table, putting them on, plugging them into a CD player, and cranking it up to '8' before turning it on. "No...what are you doing? He's 15, he shouldn't be...but she's a nice girl...you trust her...but you only get one first time...oh god, what do I do..."

Eventually, she decided to let him have this. He had been such a good boy today...and maybe this would be the thing to permanently snap him out of his funk. She didn't have any better ideas, in any case.

And it's a damn good thing she didn't try to interfere with the magic occuring in her son's bedroom.

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The morning came. TK's eyes fluttered open. Strange...no alarm...he wasn't ready to believe he had succeeded. He must have woken up early. He peered over at the clock.

10:57. He sprung up, looking around. The room was...messier than usual. Then, he looked over at the other half the bed and felt his stomach turn.

There was Kari, under his covers, still asleep. He looked outside the window, greeted by several inches of snow. It had worked. The day had ended. It was Saturday, Febuary 3rd. Finally.

He jumped on Kari and kissed her several times across the face, waking her up. "TK...didn't you get enough last night?"

"Kari...it happened! It's today! It's Saturday! Febuary 3rd! The cycle stopped!"

Kari just looked up at him as her eyes slowly opened. "Whatever. Go to bed."

"It's almost eleven, why don't you get up?" He picked her up and carried her off the bed. "We've got snow."

"Really?!" She peered behind the window blinds to confirm it. There was definitely snow.

"You know, Kari...I'm really, really sorry for the last few months. I was...depressed. But I've changed now...I'm ready to start over again. And I want you a part of that life."

Kari looked into his eyes. "Absolutely. Apology accepted."

His heart roared approval as they kissed once again. He slowly set her down. "Now, I have some more amends to make. But after I do, we'll spend the afternoon...anywhere you want!" He spun around, walking out of the room.

And so began a new saga in TK's life. He never forgot the seemingly endless cycle of days, and the lessons he had learned from it. Every year, when Groundhog's day came around, he treated the day with reverence and respect, largely out of fear, and made sure to never lose focus of the bigger picture.

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That's my story. Anyone who read the whole thing, please review! Hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it.


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